Edmund Mortimer Earl of March d1425
Edmund Mortimer was a hugely significant man during his lifetime and in the decades that followed. One of his grandmothers was Philippa, daughter of Lionel Duke of Clarence, the second eldest of Edward IIIs sons. With this lineage came a strong claim to the throne. Indeed, without the usurpation of Richard II, Edmund may well have become King himself.
Mortimer Lineage
This lineage had presented problems. In 1415 the Southampton Plot had sought to overthrow King Henry V and replace him with Edmund’s father, the 4th Earl of March. It was Mortimer himself, who was heir to the throne, who betrayed the plot to King Henry V. The leaders of the plot were executed. It included senior nobles, including his brother-in-law, the Earl of Cambridge.
Mortimer Claim Put Forward. 1403: The Battle of Shrewsbury
This had not been the first time that Edmund had become an unwilling party to a plan to overthrow the Lancastrian regime. In 1402 his uncle, the 3rd Earl of March, had put in writing that Edmund Mortimer was the rightful heir to the throne. This was a prelude to an uprising that saw Henry ‘Hotspur’ Percy killed at the Battle of Shrewsbury (1403) and a later plan to oust Henry IV, divide England and Wales into three and place Edmund on the throne as a figurehead king.
Edmund Mortimer as loyal advisor to the Lancastrian Kings
Despite Edmund’s position above the Lancastrian kings in line of descent from King Edward III, he never personally pressed a claim. He was a trusted advisor, particularly to King Henry V. He accompanied the King on the 1415 Campaign but was forced to return to England having fallen ill with Dysentry at the Siege of Harfleur. He did return to active service the following year, as a Captain in the relief force that sailed to Harfleur. He fought throughout the campaign to win Normandy and when a truce was arranged, he accompanied the King and Catherine of Valois back to England for the royal wedding, at which he carried the sceptre.
Death of Edmund Mortimer Earl of March
Upon Edmund’s death on 18 January 1425, his heir was Richard Duke of York, son of the Edmund’s sister, Anne, and the Earl of Cambridge. The family lineage was soon to become the source of further conflict, being the root of the Yorkist claim in the Wars of the Roses.
Featured Image
Arms of the Mortimer Family. By Sodacan – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia
